WORCESTER  METHODISM. 


i 


WORCESTER  METHODISM. 


OEDtCATED   MAR.  8,   1837. 


BURNED  FEB.   19.   1844. 


WORCESTER'S 
FIRST   METHODIST  CHURCH. 

Cor.  of  Exchange  and  union  sts. 


WORCESTER  METHODISM: 

ITS  BEGINNINGS. 

A  PAPER 
Read  before  The  N.  E.  M.  E.  Historical  Society, 

AND 

The  Worcester  Society  of  Antiquity. 


Bv  ALFRED  S.  ROE. 


WORCESTER,  MASS.: 

PRIVATE   PRESS   OF   FRANKLIN   P.    RICE. 

1889. 


SRIB 


WORCESTER  METHODISM. 


If  Tyerman  be  right  in  his  classification  of  Oxford  Methodists, 
then  the  first  Methodist  sermon  in  Worcester  was  preached  Wed- 
nesday, October  15th,  1740,  by  George  Whitefield.  Journeying 
from  Boston  to  Northampton,  he  had  reached  Worcester  at  8 
p.  M.  on  the  14th,  and,  with  Governor  Belcher,  who  had  accom- 
panied him  from  Marlborough,  was  the  guest  of  Colonel  John 
Chandler,  2d,  perhaps  at  that  time  the  foremost  citizen  of  the 
place.  The  picture  of  the  Royal  Governor  in  his  sixtieth  year, 
thus  enraptured  by  the  glowing  eloquence  of  the  young  White- 
field,  not  5'et  twenty-six,  is  an  interesting  one.  Says  the  latter  in 
his  journal :  "Wednesday,  Oct.  15. — Perceived  the  Governor  to 
be  more  affectionate  than  ever.  After  morning  prayer,  he  took 
me  by  himself,  kissed  me,  wept,  and  exhorted  me  to  go  on 
stirring  up  the  ministers  ;  'for,'  said  he,  'reformation  must  begin 
at  the  house  of  God.'  As  we  were  going  to  meeting,  says  he, 
'  Mr.  Whitefield,  do  not  spare  me  any  more  than  the  ministers, 
no,  not  the  chief  of  them.'  I  preached  in  the  open  air  on  the 
common,  to  some  thousands  ;  the  word  fell  with  weight  indeed  ; 
it  carried  all  before  it.  After  sermon,  the  Governor  said  to  me, 
'  I  pray  God  I  may  apply  what  has  been  said  to  my  own  heart.'  " 

It  is  safe  to  conclude  that  this  wonderful  messenger  was  per- 
mitted to  proclaim  the  Word  on  the  Common  without  a  written 


permit.  At  any  rate  there  is  no  record  of  any  such  permission 
having  been  granted,  thus  indicating  that  in  "ye  olden  time,"  in 
one  respect  at  least,  customs  were  in  advance  of  modern  usage 
at  the  "Hub." 

The  population  of  Worcester  in  1740  could  not  have  been 
more  than  1000,  since  in  1763  it  was  but  1478,  and  1740  was 
only  twenty-seven  years  after  the  permanent  settlement  of  the 
place;  and  that  "thousands"  should  have  gathered  to  hear  the 
Itinerant  is  the  best  possible  comment  on  his  wonderful  fame. 
Nor  was  it  on  the  Sabbath,  when  men  had  leisure ;  but  it  was  in 
the  middle  of  the  week,  in  the  busy  Fall  month  of  October. 
Under  whatever  denominational  name  Whitefield  made  his  jour- 
neys in  this  country,  we  all  know  that  his  ways  and  manners 
were  eminently  Methodistic.  To  a  people  long  lulled  into  fancied 
security,  his  eloquence  came  with  the  force  of  revelation.  No 
wonder  that  men  left  their  work  and  followed  after  him  to  hang 
upon  the  music  of  his  speech.  We  are  told  that  his  meeting 
with  Edwards  at  Northampton,  was  like  putting  fire  to  powder ; 
nor  is  it  strange,  for  in  a  long  period  of  years,  these  two  men 
seem  to  be  almost  the  only  instances  of  inflammable  matter  am.id 
the  general  spiritual  dulness  and  heaviness  that  pervaded  New 
England. 

Just  half  a  century  intervened  before  another  representative  of 
the  movement  which,  according  to  Green,  the  historian,  changed 
the  whole  temper  of  English  society,  appeared  in  Worcester. 
Whitefield  for  twenty  years  had  been  sleeping  his  final  sleep  in 
the  crypt  beneath  the  Old  South  of  Newburyport,  and  John 
Wesley  was  nearing  the  Dark  River,  when  our  second  Methodist 
itinerated  hither.  Whitefield's  influence  had  long  been  felt. 
His  intensity  had  so  permeated  the  masses,  that  the  slow  written 
sermons  of  the  day  no  longer  satisfied.  Isaac  Burr,  the  pastor  of 
Worcester's  First  Parish  from  1725  to  1745,  lost  his  hold  upon 
his  people,  no  doubt  through  his  inability  to  awaken  and  prompt 
as  Whitefield  had  done.  In  one  sense  at  least  this  remarkable 
man  seems  to  have  imitated  his  Master,  who  came  not  to  send 
Peace  but  a  Sword.  Certain  it  is  that  preachers  and  people  were 
amazingly  shaken  up  by  his  ministrations,  and  though  there  may 


have  been  temporary  troubles  as  a  consequence,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  final  outcome  was  for  the  good  of  all.  But 
when  in  1 790,  Freeborn  Garrettson  rode  into  the  town,  there  was 
little  to  remind  him  of  the  place  of  Whitefield's  preaching.  The 
orator  and  his  hearers  were  alike  silent.  The  successor  of  Isaac 
Burr,  Thaddeus  Maccarty,  had  been  in  Kingston  noted  for  his 
sympathy  with  Whitefield  and  his  methods  ;  but  he,  in  1 790,  had 
been  reposing  six  years  in  the  Old  Common  Burying  Ground, 
and  the  First  Parish  was  without  a  pastor.  A  new  parish  called 
the  Second  had  been  formed,  and  over  it  Aaron  Bancroft,  father 
of  the  famous  historian,  was  settled.  Of  Garrettson's  visit  here  on 
the  30th  of  June,  he  makes  the  following  entry  in  his  Journal : 
"The  two  following  days  we  travelled  and  arrived  at  Worcester 
about  four  o'clock,  where  I  was  kindly  entertained  by  Mr. 
Chanler  (Chandler),*  but  the  people  appeared  to  have  a  small 
share  of  religion  :  I  went  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other 
and  could  get  no  one  to  open  the  court  house  and  gather  the 

people.     I  went  to  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  B (Bancroft). 

I  was  asked  to  take  tea.  I  drew  near  and  inquired  if  it  was  not 
customary  to  ask  a  blessing?  No,  said  he,  not  over  tea;  I  then 
drew  back  from  the  table  :  his  countenance  changed  and  he  said 
in  a  very  short  manner,  '  You  may  ask  a  blessing  over  your  dish.' 
Pinching  want  might  drive  me  to  eat  and  drink  in  such  a  case. 
I  had  an  hour's  conversation  with  him.  It  is  lamentable  for 
masters  in  Israel  to  deny  the  power  of  religion." 

As  there  is  no  statement  to  the  contrary,  I  conclude  that  the 
Itinerant  was  hungry,  and  so,  driven  by  "pinching  want,"  did  eat 
in  this  Unitarian  home,  having  first,  in  true  Orthodox  manner, 
invoked  God's  blessing  on  his  own  little  dish.  The  old  Bancroft 
house  in  which  this  entertainment  was  had  is  still  standing  on 
Salisbury  street,  and  in  much  the  same  condition  as  then.  Gar- 
rettson's visit  was  made  on  his  second  passing  through  New 
England,  the  first  having  been  a  return  trip  from  Nova  Scotia, 
whither  he  had  gone  by  water.  It  is  probable  that  he  once  more 
passed  through  the  town  in  1820,  on  his  way  from  Boston  to 

*  Doubtless  Samuel,  referred  to  later  as  the  entertainer  of  Bishop  Asbury. 


Hartford,  the  last  visit,  I  think,  that  he  made  to  New  England.  It 
may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  had  the  Unitarians  then  possessed 
a  church,  Garrettson  would  probably  have  been  invited  to  preach. 
As  it  was,  they  were  worshipping  in  the  Court  House,  and  per- 
mission to  occupy  it  by  others  had  to  be  obtained  from  the 
County  authorities.  There  was  no  Town  House — the  "Old 
South  "  answering  that  purpose ;  and  for  an  Itinerant  to  remain 
long  enough  in  one  place  to  canvass  County  officers  was  not  to 
be  thought  of.  Asbury,  in  his  record,  chronicles  his  disgust  at 
having  to  stay  three  days  in  the  same  house.  To  be  sure  there 
was  the  big  church,  the  Common,  and  how  proud,  religiously 
proud  of  course,  should  we  be  if,  like  Boston,  we  could  point  to 
some  part  of  this  grand  old  acreage  as  the  place  of  beginning  of 
our  Worcester  Methodism.  But  it  was  not  to  be.  Garrettson 
was  Garrettson  as  Jesse  Lee  was  Jesse  Lee. 

The  Massachusetts  Spy  of  September  i6th,  1790,  has  this  story 
at  the  expense  of  our  preachers  :  "  Not  long  since,  in  a  neighbor- 
ing state,  a  sermon  was  preached  by  an  itinerant  Methodist 
minister;  from  the  uncommon  eloquence  of  the  preacher  and 
the  visible  effects  upon  the  audience,  the  hearers  had  it  in  con- 
templation to  get  it  printed,  and  probably  would  have  done  it 
had  they  not  been  prevented  by  an  old  woman,  who  observed  to 
them,  *  Ah  !  you  may  print  the  words,  but  you  can't  print  the 
tone  ! ' "  All  the  pictures  of  the  good  itinerants  of  those  days 
seem  to  have  a  marked  similarity.  The  simplicity  of  the  men 
verges  on  affectation,  and  one  wonders  if  they  all  spoke  with 
"The  Bible  Twang."  They  were  poor  in  purse,  and  so  sought 
entertainment,  not  at  an  inn,  but  at  private  homes,  hence  the 
expression  of  "Methodist  Taverns."  As  converts  were  usually 
converted  in  pocket  as  well  as  soul,  they  looked  upon  the  enter- 
taining of  the  Itinerant  as  a  pleasure  rather  than  a  cross ;  but 
there  must  have  been  wry  faces  in  some  Orthodox  homes  over 
the  "Trust  in  Providence  "  spirit  of  the  men  who  could  sing  with 
so  much  unction 

"  No  foot  of  land  do  I  possess, 
No  cottage  in  this  wilderness." 


Without  any  masonic  pass-words  or  signs  these  men  knew  each 
other,  even  at  a  distance,  as  when  Jesse  Lee,  on  his  way  from 
Providence  to  Boston,  in  1 790,  encountered  Freeborn  Garrettson 
who  was  journeying  homeward  from  Nova  Scotia.  This  is  the 
way  the  story  is  told  : — "  When  he  had  proceeded  about  ten 
miles,  he  saw  a  sight  that  greatly  surprised  him.  At  some  dis- 
tance up  the  road  appeared,  approaching  him  on  horseback,  a 
man  dressed  and  accoutred  in  the  distinctive  style  of  a  Methodist 
preacher."  Their  meeting  resulted  in  such  a  jubilation  that  the 
natives  were  astonished.  A  dislike  for  such  peculiarities  may 
have  been  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  long  delay  in  planting 
Methodism  in  Worcester. 

The  Spy  for  April  28th,  1791,  has  this  item  : — Died,  "  In  Eng- 
land, Rev.  John  Wesley,  aged  88,  the  original  founder  of  the  Sect 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  Methodists."  Again,  August  23d, 
1792,  this: — Ordained,  "At  Lynn,  the  Rev.  Jesse  Lee  of  the 
Methodist  Church."  This  was  at  the  Conference  of  that  year, 
held  in  Lynn,  at  which  were  present  ten  men  including  the 
Bishop.  The  turning  of  leaves  of  the  Spy  files  for  many  years 
subsequently,  is  quite  fruitless,  and  one  concludes  that  in  those 
days,  the  editor  supposed  that  folks  at  home  knew  all  that  was 
going  on  in  their  immediate  vicinity,  and  so  gave  little  attention 
to  local  matters  ;  but  went  in  heavy  on  the  condition  of  the  State 
and  Nation.  Such  searching  is  dreary  work.  That  the  editor  was 
presented  with  a  cord  of  wood,  a  bushel  of  potatoes,  or  a  big 
turnip,  would  be  a  relief  from  the  general  dreariness ;  but  we 
don't  find  even  that.  The  advertisements  tell  better  what  is 
doing  in  the  town  or  city  than  the  nominal  reading  matter.  In 
fact,  the  general  substance  was  little  better  than  ancient  history, 
the  day  it  was  printed. 

The  next  Itinerant  to  press  the  soil  of  Worcester  was  the  man 
to  whom  American  Methodism  owes  so  much — Bishop  Francis 
Asbury.  He  was  on  his  return  southward  from  his  first  visit  to 
New  England,  and  from  Shrewsbury  came  to  our  town  on  the 
13th  of  July,  1 79 1.  He  says,  "Mr.  Chandler,  received  us  with 
kindness  more  than  common,  and  courtesy  anxious  to  please, 
calling  his  family  together  with  softness  of  address,  and  in  all 


8 

things  else  being  agreeable ;  perhaps  more  so  than  any  man  I 
have  met  with  in  America.  This  exception  shall  comfort  us  a 
little  in  our  toil.     From  Worcester  we  journeyed  on,"  etc.* 

Of  the  subsequent  visits  of  Asbury  to  Worcester  we  have 
scarcely  more  than  inferential  authority.  Tuesday,  August  7th, 
1792,  he  "rested"  here  on  his  way  from  Shrewsbury  to  Brook- 
field.  To  pass  from  Westborough  to  Brimfield,  he  very  likely 
passed  through  this  place,  September  14th,  1798.  Again  on  July 
19th,  1805,  he  must  have  ridden  through  our  streets  on  his  way 
from  Shrewsbury  to  Wilbraham.  On  the  8th  or  9th  of"  June, 
1807,  he  passed  through  from  Westborough  to  Wilbraham,  which, 
even  in  those  days,  was  a  sort  of  Methodist  haven.  On  Friday, 
June  26th,  1 81 2,  he  "took  the  Worcester  road  to  Brookfield." 
Thursday,  June  ist,  181 5,  he  rode  through  from  Leicester  to 
Needham,  a  man  seventy  years  of  age,  and  less  than  a  year  from 
his  final  triumph.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  one  man  ever  trav- 
elled so  many  miles  in  this  country  to  further  the  cause  of  Christ, 
and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  Wesley  himself,  in  all  his  goings 
to  and  fro,  compassed  so  much  space  as  did  this  "man  on  horse- 
back," who  "rambled  through  the  United  States." 

But  in  all  his  passing  through  our  town,  we  have  no  record  of 
any  preaching,  nor  even  of  a  visitation,  save  when  he  spent  the 
night  with  Mr.  Chandler.  There  seemed  to  be  very  little  en- 
couragement for  labors  such  as  his,  though  his  diHgence  in  neigh- 
boring localities  may  have  insensibly  affected  this  "stony  ground." 
In  his  Journal  for  Sunday,  August  12th,  he  remarks  that  East- 
em  people  are  too  much  accustomed  to  systematical  preaching 
to  be  moved  by  a  systematical  sermon,  even  from  a  Methodist ; 
but  they  have  their  feelings,  and  touch  but  the  right  string  and 

*This.  probably,  was  Mr.  Samuel  Chandler,  who,  with  his  brother  Charles, 
was  in  business  in  the  town,  and  who,  according  to  the  family  historian,  Dr. 
George  Chandler,  was  noted  for  his  hospitality  to  strangers.  His  home  was 
on  Summer  street,  where  now  stands  the  house  of  Mrs.  Edward  Earle.  He 
was  a  grandson  of  the  Col.  John  Chandler  who,  years  before,  had  been  the 
host  of  George  Whitefield,  and  a  brother  of  Lucretia,  wife  of  Rev.  Aaron 
Bancroft.  Thus  three  times  have  we  seen  members  of  this  family  giving 
comfort  to  representatives  of  the  Methodist  Church. 


they  will  be  moved.  The  wisdom  of  the  Bishop's  words  in  time 
appeared.  His  remarks  against  church  steeples,  bells  and  organs 
however,  seem  very  queer  in  these  ornate  and  showy  days. 

That  others  of  the  Itinerant  force  which  Methodism  was  send- 
ing abroad  passed  through  Worcester,  is  possible  and  probable ; 
but  the  turning  of  many  leaves  of  biography  and  history  has  re- 
vealed nothing.  When  Jesse  Lee  made  the  tour  of  the  inland 
counties  he  may  have  seen  our  village,  and  when  Lorenzo  Dow 
journeyed  by  stage  from  Springfield  to  Waltham  in  1804,  he  too, 
probably  passed  through  this  central  place  ;  but  the  location  of 
Methodist  communities  to  the  southward  of  us  drew  the  most  of 
the  ministers  to  that  range  rather  than  this.  I  have  bestowed 
considerable  thought  as  to  just  why  Worcester  was  not  earlier 
made  a  Methodist  center,  and  I  can  explain  it  in  no  other  way 
than  on  account  of  the  nominally  conservative  character  of  its 
citizens.  Early  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  Scotch  Presbyterians 
had  found  it  impossible  to  maintain  their  worship  in  the  place 
where^they  had  essayed  to  settle.  Opposition  even  went  to  the 
extreme  of  destroying  the  edifice  which  they  were  trying  to  erect 
to  the  worship  of  God.  The  Baptists,  our  immediate  prede- 
cessors here,  found  a  deal  of  hostility  to  their  progress.  From 
1795  to  181 2  they  had  no  accessions  to  their  four  members, — 
indeed  at  the  later  date  there  was  only  one  survivor.  Dr.  Austin 
of  the  First  Parish  openly  preached  against  them  before  his  con- 
gregation. 

Such  being  the  soil,  there  is  little  wonder  that  Methodist  seed 
found  no  lodgment.  It  had  to  be  sprouted  elsewhere,  and,  then, 
transplanted,  by  careful  and  assiduous  attention  it  has  grown  and 
developed  into  a  goodly  tree.  Before,  however,  the  settled  siege 
began  there  were  desultory  attacks  on  the  stronghold,  as  in  1823 
and  4,  the  Rev.  John  E.  Risley,  then  travelling  the  Milford  cir- 
cuit, preached  here  five  times  ;  four  times  in  the  school-house  in 
New  Worcester,  and  once  in  a  private  house  in  the  north  part  of 
the  town,  probably  Burncoat  plain.  He  himself  has  said  that 
there  were  but  two  or  three  families  of  Methodists  in  New  Wor- 
cester, and  none  whatever  in  the  other  place.  The  old  school- 
house  where  Risley  preached  disappeared  in   1858.     This  was 


lO 

very  early  in  the  good  man's  ministry,  as  it  was  only  in  1822  that 
he  was  received  into  the  New  England  Conference,  then  held  in 
Boston.  His  colleague  was  Hezekiah  Thatcher,  and  as  there 
were  two  preaching  places  in  the  town,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
Thatcher  also  preached  here.  Mr.  Risley's  account  of  his  outfit, 
first  with  jumping  horse,  and  then  with  one  so  slow  and  lazy  that 
ministerial  pounding  was  needed  for  encouragement,  would  dis- 
courage the  average  Methodist  of  to-day. 

At  this  date  there  were  but  two  or  three  Methodist  families  in 
the  town,  and  their  names  even  have  disappeared.  Rev.  George 
Pickering  of  delightful  memory  is  reported  to  have  preached  here 
through  the  influence  of  Rev.  Luther  Goddard,  who  was  the  pas- 
tor of  a  Baptist  church  in  that  part  of  Shrewsbury  known  as 
Podunk.  Mr.  Goddard  himself  was  a  come-outer  from  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  and  was  the  father  of  Perley  Goddard,  late  of  the 
Central  (Worcester)  Church,  and  Daniel  Goddard,  deceased  in 
Worcester  in  1884,  for  more  than  fifty  years  a  deacon  in  the 
Baptist  Church.  All  the  family,  from  the  first  Luther  to  the 
present  time  have  supplied  members  for  the  business  of  selling 
and  repairing  watches  and  clocks.  From  the  beginning  the 
Methodists  and  Baptists  were  on  very  good  terms,  frequently 
receiving  and  giving  Christian  courtesies. 

John  Wesley's  Class  Meeting,  in  early  days  so  essential  to  the 
prosperity  of  his  people,  is  found  in  Worcester  as  the  very  foun- 
dation of  the  Church.  In  1828,  Elijah  Brigham,*  active  in 
Methodism,  came  from  Marlborough  to  this  place.  He  it  was  who 
invited  the  Rev.  Ephraim  K.  Avery,  subsequently  so  noted  in  his 
trial  for  the  alleged  murder  of  Sarah  Maria  Cornell,  to  preach  here. 
Avery,  who  was  a  Conference  class-mate  of  John  E.  Risley,  be- 
fore mentioned,  was  then  travelling  the  Needham  Circuit,  and  he 
came  here  and  preached  once  in  the  vestry  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  once  in  Brigham's  house.  In  1829,  Revs.  Isaac  Jennison  and 
Daniel  Fillmore  were  appointed  to  the  Needham  Circuit,  and  both 
preached  in  Worcester  a  few  times.     Mr.  Jennison  says,  "  Mr. 

*In  a  history  of  Marlborough,  I  find  an  Elijah  Brigham,  born  in  1804, 
who  married  Mary  Lodar,  and  in  1847  was  living  in  Boston. 


II 

Elijah  Brigham  lived  in  a  small  house  near  the  Canal.  Only  ten 
or  twelve  persons  ventured  to  come  into  our  meetings.  The 
people  seemed  afraid  to  attend  Methodist  meetings,  so  we  did 
little  there."  A  class  however  was  organized,  and  Mr.  Brigham 
was  appointed  leader.  Of  the  names  of  members,  we  have  only 
those  of  the  leader  and  his  wife,  a  Mr.  Whitney,  and  Miss  Emeline 
Upham,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Rev.  William  B.  Olds.  This  be- 
ginning of  Methodism  was  of  brief  duration,  and  on  the  removal 
from  the  city  of  Brigham,  a  blacksmith,  the  organization  slum- 
bered for  a  while.  There  were  here  during  those  years  people  of 
Methodist  rearing,  who  did  not  seek  out  each  other,  but  readily 
became  assimilated  with  other  Christian  bodies. 

In  1830  the  peculiarity  of  a  Methodist  blank  in  Worcester, 
determined  the  appointing  powers  to  send  some  one  here  to  seize 
occupy  and  hold  the  ground.  Accordingly  from  the  Conference, 
held  in  May  at  New  Bedford,  Bishop  Hedding,  presiding.  Rev. 
Dexter  S.  King  was  sent  to  organize  classes  and  to  live  upon  the 
people.  King  was  a  native  of  Leicester,  and  I  suppose  it  was 
thought  that  he  would  be  well  acquainted  with  the  "lay  of  the 
land."  At  any  rate  he  came,  and  along  with  societies  in  other 
places,  located  one  in  New  Worcester.  In  Worcester  Brother 
King  found  his  first  wife,  a  Methodist  lady.  Miss  Nancy  Brigham, 
resident  in  the  north  part  of  the  town.  Her  brother  Moses  joined 
us  in  1839,  and  was  licensed  to  preach,  but  he  afterwards  went  to 
the  Old  South,  where  he  became  a  deacon. 

Methodism  had  fought  its  hardest  battles  elsewhere  in  the 
State,  and  was  forty  years  old  in  Lynn  before  it  obtained  this 
small  foot-hold  in  the  "  Heart  of  the  Commonwealth."  Had 
Worcester  been  surrounded  by  a  wall,  and  all  admitted  at  its 
gates  carefully  searched  on  entering,  and  every  contraband  article 
removed,  then,  as  soon  as  possible,  been  put  out  at  opposite 
gates,  exclusion  could  not  have  been  more  perfect  than  that 
which  "The  Standing  Order"  exercised  for  nearly  half  a  century 
in  this  place,  towards  our  Sect.  But  twelve  hundred  Methodists 
in  the  out-lying  towns  of  the  County,  with  nearly  ten  thousand  in 
the  Commonwealth,  constituted  a  host  against  which  even  this 
rock-ribbed  town  could  not  always  hold  out.     When  Garrettson 


12 

and  Asbury  came,  we  have  seen  them  guests  of  Unitarians ;  and 
when  the  time  came  for  Methodist  occupation,  we  find  these 
same  Unitarians,  whom  we  call  unevangelical,  showing  more 
favor  towards  our  infant  movement  than  the  people  whom  we 
denominate  Orthodox.  The  schism  from  the  Old  South,  when 
Dr.  Bancroft  organized  the  Second  Parish,  was  a  revolt  against 
Calvinism ;  and  little  wonder  that  his  followers  hailed  with 
pleasure  the  advent  of  a  people  who  had  drawn  as  far  away  as 
possible  from  that  most  pernicious  and  inconsistent  tenet.  In 
later  years  Dr.  Hill,  the  successor  of  Aaron  Bancroft,  preached  in 
the  Park  street  Church. 

In  the  New  Worcester  class  are  found  the  names  of  Eleazar 
Baker,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jesse  T.  Lesure,  and  three  brothers,  Stephen, 
John  and  Saville  Metcalf.  These  had  all  accepted  our  forms 
elsewhere.  Though  there  were  spells  of  lagging  and  discourage- 
ment afterwards,  we  may  now  reckon  Methodism  as  permanently 
established  in  Worcester.  Though  the  foregoing  names  are  those 
of  persons  who  died  in  the  Faith,  it  is  sad  to  think  that  in  at  least 
one  case  parental  example  was  not  followed.  I  wonder  just  how- 
far  we  are  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  rearing  of  our  children. 
The  Metcalf  brothers  moved  away  years  ago,  but  all  were,  I  be- 
lieve, constant  to  the  end. 

The  next  year  our  infant  society  was  a  part  of  the  Wales  and 
Leicester  circuit,  with  two  preachers.  Revs.  Horace  Moulton  and 
Joel  Knight.  Our  place  was  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
charge,  and  the  Itinerants  preached  once  in  two  weeks  in  the 
New  Worcester  School  House,  the  same  one  in  which  John  E. 
Risley  had  begun  Methodist  services  eight  years  before.  The 
Class  was  still  maintained  with  sundry  additions,  as  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
William  Henshaw,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Eldridge,  both  families 
afterwards  moving  to  Spencer.  The  Class  still  met  in  private 
families,  as  at  the  home  of  Eleazar  Baker  in  New  Worcester,  and 
at  Lesure's  and  Eldridge's  in  Leesville,  a  Worcester  hamlet  on 
the  confines  of  Auburn. 

In  1832,  Worcester  was  attached  to  the  Brookfield  circuit,  and 
Messrs.  Samuel  Davis  and  Ebenezer  T.  Newell  were  the  travellers. 
Newell  was  a  native  of  North  Brookfield,  and  must  have  known 


13 

this  section  pretty  well.  In  his  Autobiography,  published  in 
Worcester  in  1847,  he  has  this  entry  :  "In  New  Worcester,  some 
promising  young  men  were  baptized,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  cheered 
our  hearts  with  joyful  prospects  that  the  life  and  power  of  pure 
religion  would  revive  and  spread  in  all  the  region  in  spite  of  dead 
formality,  pride  and  unbelief."  What  would  we  not  give  for  the 
names  of  those  young  men  whose  baptism  so  cheered  the  heart 
of  our  Itinerant  Veteran  !  It  was  Newell  who  prevailed  upon 
Solomon  Parsons  to  attend  a  camp-meeting  at  Marlborough,  and 
both  he  and  his  wife  were  converted.  They  joined  the  New 
Worcester  Class,  and  soon  established  Prayer  and  Class  meetings 
at  their  own  house,  three  miles  from  the  town.  They  were  joined 
by  John  Shaw,  an  English  Methodist,  who  had  just  moved  from 
Clappville  to  Cherry  Valley.  During  this  year  the  ministers  were 
assisted  by  the  Rev.  Jotham  Haven,  father  of  Bishop  Erastus  O. 
Haven,  for  the  first  six  months,  and  then  by  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Coggeshall,  who  was  just  beginning  his  labors,  and  who,  in  true 
old-fashioned  way,  travelled  the  large  circuit  on  foot,  and  acted 
the  part  of  a  colporteur  also. 

The  following  year  we  are  again  changed  in  circuit  relations, 
and  belong  to  Leicester  and  Millbury,  under  the  spiritual  care  of 
Samuel  Drake.  As  there  was  only  one  preacher,  and  the  teni- 
tory  extensive,  the  work  did  not  progress,  but  rather  declined, 
though  some  additions  were  made  to  the  Class,  among  whom  as 
we  have  seen,  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Solomon  Parsons.  Of  this 
New  Worcester  Class,  Stephen  Metcalf  was  the  leader.  For 
three  years  and  more  our  people  had  confined  their  services  to 
the  outskirts.  Now  they  were  about  to  enter  the  citadel,  and  to 
no  one  person  was  this  advance  more  directly  owed  than  to  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  L.  Estey,  of  the  New  England  Conference,  who, 
now,  a  superannuated  member,  follows  the  trade  of  type-setting 
in  the  office  of  the  Boston  Transcript,  an  art  which  he  learned 
in  the  rooms  of  the  Worcester  Spy,  and  to  gain  which  he  came 
to  this  place  in  January,  1832,  from  Andover,  when  fourteen 
years  old.  He  is  a  native  of  Middleton,  a  town  lying  near  An- 
dover. Under  the  ministrations  of  the  Rev.  Rufus  Spaulding,  he 
had  been  converted  in  Andover,  and  by  him  was  told  on  leaving, 


14 

that  the  nearest  Methodist  service  to  his  new  home  would,  prob- 
ably, be  at  Leicester.  Notwithstanding  his  diligent  searching, 
he  was  unsuccessful  in  his  efforts  to  find  kindred  souls  in  his  im- 
mediate vicinity.  The  small  Class  at  New  Worcester  was  not 
generally  known  in  town ;  but  in  his  seeking  he  betrayed  good 
Methodist  qualities  in  visiting  the  outlying  towns,  as  Holden, 
Millbury  and  Leicester.  As  Brother  Estey  has  given  much  time 
to  reminiscences  of  these  days,  he  may  here  tell  his  own  story. 
"At  length,  one  pleasant  Sunday  morning,  I  left  home  at  an  early 
hour,  for  the  purpose  of  searching  for,  and  if  possible  making  a 
Methodist  acquaintance.  At  the  hour  of  morning  worship  I  had 
reached  Leicester  Hill,  having  been  advised  however,  in  Cherry 
Valley  that  this  people  was  but  little  known  in  town,  and  that  if  I 
found  them  at  all  it  would  probably  be  at  Clappville  [a  hamlet 
in  the  south  part  of  Leicester].  Having  listened  to  Dr.  Nelson's 
Twentieth  Anniversary  Sermon,  I  walked  to  Clappville  at  noon, 
and  attended  Episcopal  service  in  the  afternoon,  after  which  I 
returned  to  Worcester  determined  to  visit  the  place  again  at  no 
distant  day.  The  distance  travelled  was  seventeen  miles,  a  large 
Sabbath-day's  journey  for  a  young  lad." 

"Three  weeks  afterward  I  revisited  Clappville,  reaching  the 
Episcopal  Church  before  service.  I  inquired  if  there  was  Meth- 
odist service  in  the  vicinity,  and  was  directed  to  a  school-house, 
back  upon  the  hill.  With  a  relieved  heart,  I  retraced  my  steps, 
and  in  that  humble  structure  listened  to  two  discourses  by  the 
Rev.  Joel  Knight.  Not  presuming  to  obtrude  myself  on  any 
one's  attention,  having  heard  the  appointment  for  preaching  in 
two  weeks,  by  the  Rev.  Horace  Moulton,  I  was  again  homeward 
bound.  Before  I  had  gone  a  great  way  I  was  overtaken  by  Bro. 
William  Henshaw,  then  of  New  Worcester,  who  told  me  of  the 
Class  in  his  neighborhood,  and  that  the  circuit  preachers  came 
thither  from  Clappville  on  Sunday  evenings.  Now  I  was  at  home. 
God,  in  his  providence,  had  given  me  an  acquaintance,  and  with 
a  light  step  I  was  soon  at  tea  in  Worcester,  meditating  a  return 
to  New  Worcester  in  the  evening.  This  second  journey  was  duly 
accomplished,  making  eighteen  miles  of  travel  in  one  day." 


15 

It  is  just  such  devotion  and  perseverance  as  this  that  have 
carried  Methodism  forward  in  the  world.  Such  examples  are 
worthy  of  emulation.  The  Boy  Methodist  soon  connected  him- 
self with  the  New  Worcester  Class ;  but  later  in  the  spring  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  William  Lucas,  a  copper-  and  tinsmith, 
who  had  just  come  to  the  place  from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  where  he  had 
joined  our  denomination ;  and  also  that  of  Daniel  EUinwood,  a 
stone  mason,  who  had  come  from  Athol,  he  too,  being  of  the 
Methodist  persuasion.  These  three  worthies  made  the  rounds  of 
the  preaching  places  in  each  others'  society.  About  this  time 
they  are  joined  by  William  Routledge,  a  machinist,  who  had  re- 
cently come  from  England,  and  who,  also,  was  a  talented  local 
preacher.  He  alternated  Sunday  nights  with  the  regular  preachers. 
Subsequently  moving  from  Worcester,  he  went  to  Xenia,  Ohio, 
where  he  became  a  travelling  minister  in  the  Ohio  Conference. 

In  1833  the  center  of  the  town  is  reached,  when  a  room  is 
hired  of  Simeon  Coes,  on  Mechanic  street,  in  which  these  people 
are  to  hold  Class  and  Prayer  Meetings.  The  building  was  a  small 
wooden  one,  standing  well  down  towards  what  is  now  Bridge 
street,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Litch's  block.  Lucas  hired  the 
room,  and  Routledge  was  leader.  In  the  house  lived  several 
families,  as  Mrs.  Harrott,  who  was  very  zealous,  one  Geer,  and 
Peter  Edwards.  Mrs.  Harrott  was  noted  for  the  length  of  her 
stature,  her  husband  for  the  brevity  of  his.  He  had  the  dis- 
tinction however,  of  having  served  under  Wellington,  They 
were  in  some  way  related,  and  Edwards  aft^-wards  married  a 
niece  of  Lucas.  He  was  a  painter  by  trade,  and  a  Methodist  of 
the  shouting  kind.  "  I  have  known  him,"  said  a  man  who  worked 
with  him,  "to  drop  his  brush  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  and  to 
pray  and  shout  most  lustily."  He  afterwards  went  to  Fitzwilliam, 
N.  H,,  where  he  now  resides. 

This  move  to  the  middle  of  the  town  was  a  successful  one. 
The  leader,  Routledge,  preached  occasionally  in  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  and  in  the  Vestry  of  the  Third  Congregational  (Central) 
Church  on  Thomas  street,  and  this  too  with  great  acceptance. 
It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  this  Vestry,  after  serving  its  day  for 
the  Congregationalists,  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Dis- 


i6 

ciples,  and  finally  to  the  Swedish  Methodists,  who  now  flourish 
there  amazingly.  The  Class  received  many  valuable  accessions, 
among  whom  were  Mrs.  Ephraim  C.  Stowell  from  Brookfield ; 
Mrs.  Samuel  R.  Jackson  from  Maine,  and  her  sister.  Miss  Sarah 
Winchell ;  also  Jane  Howe,  and  the  wife  of  William  Lucas,  whom 
he  had  just  gone  back  to  Utica  to  marry.  She  was  a  Gray,  and 
of  excellent  Methodist  antecedents,  and  was  long  a  shining  Hght 
in  Worcester  Methodism.  As  a  dress-maker  and  milliner  she  was 
truly  a  helpmeet  to  her  husband.  After  this  marriage  the  Class 
meetings  were  held  at  Lucas's  house  on  Thomas  street.  The 
first  wife  of  Pitt  Holmes,  from  Thompson,  Conn.,  early  became 
a  member  of  the  Class.  Her  home  was  at  South  Worcester. 
These  people,  when  they  did  not  go  to  New  Worcester  or  Clapp- 
ville,  worshipped  with  other  Evangelical  bodies  in  the  town,  as 
the  Baptist  and  Old  South.  The  pastor  of  the  Central  Church, 
the  famous  John  S.  C.  Abbott,  inquired  particularly  of  Lucas 
about  the  Methodist  Class  meeting,  and  expressed  the  opinion 
that  some  such  spiritual  means  might  well  be  introduced  into 
Congregationalism. 

Hitherto  the  warfare  waged  in  Worcester  by  our  church  mili- 
tant was  little  better  than  skirmishing,  but  in  the  autumn  of  1833 
a  petition  was  circulated  praying  for  the  use  of  the  Town  Hall 
for  religious  purposes.  This  movement  was  made  in  spite  of  the 
fears  of  many,  after  much  prayerful  consideration.  To  this  paper 
were  appended  eighteen  names,  viz. — 

Solomon  Parsons,  William  Routledge,  S.  R.  Jackson, 

William  Henshaw,  P.  Metcalf,  Wm.  P.  Jenks, 

Lewis  Holmes,  George  Willey,  Henry  Knowles, 

Eleazar  Baker,  Jesse  T.  Lesure,  George  Edwards, 

Silas  Eldridge,  Rufus  Rockwood,  Benj.  F.  Gale, 

Joseph  Haynes,  William  Lucas,  Stephen  Metcalf. 

To  me  a  study  of  these  names  is  an  interesting  exercise.  Par- 
sons, a  farmer,  is  living,  but  an  Adventist.  Henshaw,  a  ma- 
chinist, went  to  Spencer — ^all  right.  Holmes,  a  brother  of  Pitt, 
and  a  carpenter,  moved  to  Washington.  Eleazar  Baker,  ma- 
chinist, dead.     Eldridge,  a  manufacturer  of  cotton  cloth,  went 


17 

to  Spencer — correct.  Joseph  Haynes,  a  laborer — lost  sight  of. 
William  Routledge,  went  to  Ohio — preacher.  Both  the  Met- 
calfs,  machinists,  and  died  well.  Willey,  a  farmer,  died  in  New 
York  State — good.  Lesure,  from  Uxbridge — don't  know.  Rock- 
wood,  a  farmer — know  nothing  more  about  him.  Lucas,  living, 
but  not  in  the  fold.  Jackson,  already  described.  Jenks,  car- 
penter, went  West.  Knowles,  not  known.  Edwards,  shoemaker, 
— clear  to  the  end.  Gates,  not  known.  In  a  farming  com- 
munity every  name  in  this  list  could  have  been  traced  out  as 
clear  as  a  die.  The  Town  meeting  of  November  nth,  1833, 
granted  the  request,  and  the  Rev.  Ira  M.  Bidwell,  then  of  Web- 
ster, was  invited  to  come  and  preach  in  it. 

According  to  J.  L.  Estey,  Mr.  Bidwell's  first  sermon  was 
preached  in  the  Town  Hall  in  January,  '34,  while  the  preacher 
himself  writes  that  it  was  in  October.  He  describes  his  audience 
in  the  daytime  as  small,  and  it  would  have  been  much  smaller  had 
not  people  come  in  from  the  surrounding  towns.  The  evening 
services  were  much  better  attended,  and  were  times  of  great 
power.  "After  this,"  he  states,  "we  did  not  want  for  congrega- 
tions in  Worcester."  But  Mr.  Bidwell  had  another  charge  on  his 
hands,  so  the  first  Dr.  Daniel  Dorchester,  then  Presiding  Elder, 
was  asked  to  send  aid,  which  he  did  in  the  shape  of  the  Rev. 
Pardon  T.  Kenney.  These  two  men  stood  at  the  helm  till  the 
Rev.  Joseph  A.  Merrill,  Conference  Agent,  came  and  asked  Bro. 
Bidwell  to  give  the  Worcester  work  into  his  hands.  On  applica- 
tion to  the  Bishop,  the  privilege  was  granted,  and  Worcester 
Mission  was  put  into  Merrill's  keeping,  he  being  paid  from  the 
mission  funds  of  the  Conference. 

In  this  connection  I  have  recently  received  the  following  com- 
munication from  the  Rev.  John  W.  Merrill,  of  Concord,  N.  H., 
son  of  Joseph  A.  He  says,  "In  the  year  1833,  Rev.  Joseph  A. 
Merrill,  my  father,  was  appointed  an  agent  to  raise  five  or  six 
thousand  dollars  to  clear  the  debt  incurred  by  the  trial  of  the  Rev. 
E.  K.  Avery,  charged  with  the  murder  of  Maria  Cornell.  This 
he  effected,  and  having  several  months  on  his  hands  before  the 
season  of  the  Conference,  he  opened  religious  services  in  Wor- 
cester, in  the  Old  Court  House  on   the  Common,  I  think,  and 


i8 

there  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  First  Methodist-Episcopal  Church 
in  Worcester.  At  the  Webster  Conference  of  '34,  he  was  made 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Springfield  District,  and  resigned  the  Wor- 
cester charge  into  the  hands  of  Rev.  George  Pickering,  his  early 
and  lifelong  friend." 

While  in  Worcester  Bro.  Merrill  boarded  at  Ephraim  Stowell's 
in  Mechanic  street,  and  at  S.  R.  Jackson's  on  Central  street.  He 
was  a  strong  man,  and  won  unreserved  respect. 

The  minor  difference  in  these  two  accounts  is  not  worth  dis- 
cussing ;  but  it  does  seem  a  little  queer  that  the  famous  Avery 
trial,  and  the  cost  of  Jeremiah  Mason's  eloquence  should  have 
been  the  means  of  sending  to  Worcester  its  first  regular  Methodist 
preacher.  A  grandson  of  Joseph  A.  Merrill,  Charles  A.,  son  of 
John  W.,  is  now  a  lawyer  in  our  city. 

The  work  in  the  Town  Hall  progressed  so  well  that  the  mem- 
bers felt  justifiable  in  asking  the  Conference  for  a  regular  pastor, 
a  request  that  was  granted,  as  we  have  seen ;  but  before  this, 
February  8th,  '34,  under  the  advice  of  Bro.  Merrill,  the  new 
people  met  in  Town  Hall,  pursuant  to  a  warrant  issued  by  Emory 
Washburn,  Esq.,  and  were  duly  organized  as  "The  Methodist- 
Episcopal  Religious  Society  in  the  Town  of  Worcester,"  thus 
assuming  the  powers  and  privileges  of  corporate  bodies,  but  not 
to  escape  other  parish  taxation,  the  Eleventh  Amendment  to  the 
Constitution,  ratified  by  the  people  in  November  of  the  preceding 
year,  having  done  away  with  that  iniquity. 

During  this  year,  a  Board  of  Trustees  was  organized,  and  they 
bought  a  lot  of  land  for  $600  at  the  corner  of  Front  and  Spring 
streets,  for  a  church  edifice.  As  they  were,  however,  very  poor, 
and  as  one  of  the  trustees  ran  away  to  avoid  imprisonment  for 
debt,  the  deed  was  not  taken.  Whittier's  couplet  of  "  might 
have  been  "  is  suggested  here,  for  we  cannot  help  thinking  that 
Methodism,  planted  on  Front  street,  would  have  fared  much 
better  than  it  did  in  the  place  subsequently  taken. 

During  George  Pickering's  stay  in  Worcester,  his  family  con- 
tinued to  reside  in  Waltham,  he  receiving  nothing,  save  actual 
expenses,  as  board  and  travelling,  from   the  Society,  though  he 


19 

received  something  from  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Conference. 
His  home  was  with  Ichabod  Washburn,  who  seemed  to  have  a 
warm  place  in  his  heart  towards  the  new  body  of  Christians. 
Bro.  Pickering  was  noted  for  his  regular,  systematic  habits.,  and 
for  his  invariable  gentleness  and  kindness.  When  a  rough  in  his 
audience  threw  at  him  a  quid  of  tobacco,  and  hit  his  face  with  it, 
he  merely  removed  the  noxious  article,  saying,  "Thank  you,  sir, 
I  don't  use  the  weed."  His  preaching,  aided  by  the  Revs. 
Abram  D.  Merrill  and  Reuben  Rawson,  was  blessed  with  a  revi- 
val. This  was,  I  believe,  the  famous  "  Four  Days' "  meeting, 
following  some  special  work  in  other  churches  from  which  we 
were  barred  out, — a  period  of  great  awakening,  among  whose 
results  were  many  additional  members  reported  at  the  next  Con- 
ference, and  a  deeper  work  of  grace  in  other  churches.  Some- 
times people  went  to  play  but  stayed  to  hear.  "Joe"  Haynes 
went  in  drunk  and  slept  through.  When  awakened  and  led  out, 
and  asked  what  he  thought  of  the  sermon,  he  proclaimed  it 
the  best  he  had  ever  heard.  This  item  became  a  by-word  in 
the  town  ;  but  the  name  of  Joseph  Haynes  appears  among  the 
petitioners  for  the  use  of  the  Hall. 

Samuel  Perry  and  Ichabod  Washburn,  both  Congregational 
deacons,  were  found  kneeling  at  this  Methodist  altar.  Among 
other  converts  was  Miss  Charlotte  Eaton,  whose  great-grand- 
father, Adonijah  Rice,  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  Wor- 
cester. She  subsequently  became  Mrs.  Benjamin  Walker,  and 
now,  in  her  recent  widowhood,  we  find  her  a  lovely  illustration  of 
God's  sustaining  grace.  "  It  took  a  deal  of  strength  and  zeal  to 
be  a  Methodist  in  those  days,"  she  recently  said  to  me.  "I  went 
into  the  church  alone  and  in  the  face  of  much  opposition.  I  laid 
aside  my  curls  and  jewelry  and  have  never  resumed  them."  The 
Quaker  austerity  and  its  repressive  characteristics  have  disap- 
peared from  our  church.  Who  can  tell  whether  the  change  is 
for  the  best. 

Andrew  J.  Waite  came  in  at  this  time,  while  Joshua  Freeman 
and  Philander  Sears,  already  members,  and  in  the  employ  of 
Washburn,  made  the  entrance  of  our  Methodist  clergyman  into 


20 

the  latter's  family  easier.  Charles  Davis  was  a  stately  man,  having 
only  one  arm,  who  had  long  felt  a  call  to  preach  ;  but  even  the 
loss  of  his  arm,  though  it  flashed  through  his  mind  that  it  might 
be  a  penalty,  could  not  draw  him  into  the  work.  He  was  a  book- 
keeper in  the  wire  works.  He  afterwards  withdrew  with  his  wife 
to  the  Union  Church.  About  this  time  too,  came  John  Dudley 
and  wife  from  Northbridge,  and  lived  on  the  Hadwen  farm.  They 
joined,  as  did  their  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Francis  Strong,  and  Mrs. 
Caleb  Cutting.  This  is,  too,  the  time  for  William  Wheat.  Week- 
day prayer  meetings  were  held,  first  on  Pleasant  street,  opposite 
Lincoln's  nursery,  where  afterwards  lived  John  Johnson,  who, 
with  his  family,  was  converted.  Afterward  it  was  transferred  to 
Millbury  street,  then  to  the  home  of  Andrew  J.  Waite's  mother 
on  Front  street,  and  there  continued  till  the  first  church  was 
built,  though  sometimes  overflow  meetings  were  held  at  the 
houses  of  Bros.  Davis  and  Barrows,  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
Classes  were  held  at  the  houses  of  Bros.  Lucas,  Stowell  and  Davis, 
and  at  other  places.  As  this  is  a  record  of  first  things,  it  is 
proper  to  state  here  that  the  first  Quarterly  Meeting  in  Worcester 
was  held  November  loth,  1834,  Orange  Scott,  Presiding  Elder, 
Worcester  then  belonging  to  the  Providence  District. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  add  much  to  the  history  of  George 
Pickering,  whose  memory  is  so  fragrant  in  New  England  ;  but 
two  or  three  instances  of  his  quaintness  linger  in  our  midst.  He 
was  sixty-five  years  old  when  he  assumed  the  Worcester  pastorate, 
and  at  that  age  was  not  anxious  to  "go  down  into  the  water," 
etc.,  to  please  the  immersion  prejudices  of  some  of  the  converts. 
He  even  invited  a  Baptist*  Brother,  Luther  Goddard,  to  do  the 
work  for  him,  and  the  story  goes  that  at  the  water's  edge  the  good 
clergyman  took  it  upon  himself  to  deliver  a  lengthy  discourse 
on  the  Baptist  view  of  the  subject,  claiming  however  in  this  case, 
that  he  was  only  Mr.  Pickering's  servant — he  didn't  say  "  sheep 
washer,"  but  that  was  what  he  meant.  Much  to  his  astonishment 
the  Methodist  had  one  candidate  for  baptism  who  wanted  to  be 
sprinkled,  and  when  the  proper  time  came,  Bro.  Pickering  admin- 
istered the  ordinance,  giving  his  views  in  the  case,  upon  all  of 
which  the  Baptist  piously  turned  his  back.     However,  the  old 


21 


gentleman  could  not  always  get  others  to  act  for  him,  and  so 
occasionally  was  obliged  to  perform  the  task  himself.  Obviously 
he  had  read  up  in  the  matter,  for  his  system,  though  peculiar,  had 
the  sanction  of  early  usage.  He  made  the  candidate  kneel,  and 
then  throw  himself  forward,  thus  standing  on  hands  and  knees. 
In  this  posture,  the  minister  could  give  him  a  rocking  motion 
forward,  and  thus  cover  with  water,  while  the  the  baptizer  escaped 
with  only  a  slight  wetting.  Damon  Johnson,  a  convert,  who  was 
always  anxious  to  go  forward  into  duty,  was  told  that  he  had  his 
wish  as  the  clergyman  shOved  him  under.  Often  the  candidates 
would  lose  their  command  of  themselves,  and,  in  their  efforts  to 
regain  their  true  poise  would  resemble  nothing  so  much  as  ex- 
aggerated frogs.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  ceremony  did  not 
always  possess  the  solemnity  that  it  ought. 

The  Conference  of  1835  sent  as  Mr.  Pickering's  successor  the 
Rev.  John  T.  Burrell,  who  remained  two  years.  He  subsequently 
became  a  clergyman  in  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Chelsea,  I  be- 
lieve. His  success  and  popularity  in  Worcester  seem  to  have 
been  unqualified,  and  his  people  thought  the  "Two  years'  limit" 
taking  him  from  them  a  harsh  one.  Dr.  Smalley,  in  his  "  Wor- 
cester Pulpit,"  says,  "  Nor  was  his  popularity  confined  to  his  own 
Society.  Christians  of  other  denominations  highly  esteemed  him 
for  his  talents  and  were  delighted  with  his  preaching."  The 
Society  still  continued  to  occupy  the  Town  Hall ;  but  events  were 
ripening  which  were  to  hasten  the  building  period. 

Orange  Scott,  Presiding  Elder  of  the  District,  was  filled  with 
zeal,  not  only  on  religious  subjects,  but  also  on  the  question  of 
slavery.  Already  he  had,  himself,  subscribed  for  one  hundred 
copies  of  Garrison's  Liberator,  to  be  sent  to  his  fellow  ministers 
of  the  New  England  Conference.  Such  a  man  would  "cry  out" 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  Early  after  Burrell's  coming, 
August  loth,  Scott  gave  a  lecture  in  the  Town  Hall,  on  the  sub- 
ject then  just  coming  into  prominence  in  American  affairs.  How 
the  meeting  progressed  is  best  told  in  an  article  from  the  Spy, 
dated  August  12th,  1835  : 

"  Breach  of  the  Peace.  A  lecture  on  the  subject  of  Slavery 
was  delivered  at  the  Town  Hall  on  the  evening  of  the   loth  inst. 


22 

by  Orange  Scott,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  the  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Providence  District, 
to  a  large  and  respectable  audience,  among  whom  were  some  of 
those  who  have  sustained  and  still  hold  some  of  the  highest 
offices  in  the  County  and  State.  We  learn,  for  we  were  not 
present,  that  the  speaker  treated  his  subject  in  a  cool,  dispassion- 
ate manner,  without  having  uttered  a  sentiment  that  could  be 
offensive  to  any,  and  was  finally  drawing  to  a  close,  uninterrupted 
except  one  or  two  abortive  attempts  to  create  disturbance  by  a 
few  individuals,  when  Levi  Lincoln,  Jr.,  and  Patrick  Doyle, 
entered  the  Hall  and  walked  directly  up  to  the  desk.  The  former 
stepped  directly  up  in  front  of  it,  seized  the  lecturer's  notes  and 
deliberately  tore  them  in  pieces,  while  Doyle,  who  is  a  stout 
Irishman,  passed  around  into  the  desk  and  laid  hold  upon  the 
lecturer  with  the  apparent  intention  of  dragging  him  out.  One 
or  two  persons  present  then  interfered,  and  remonstrated  with 
Doyle  on  the  impropriety  of  his  conduct.  The  meeting  then 
broke  up  without  further  disturbance." 

The  Palladium,  at  that  time  the  Spy''s  rival,  alludes  to  the  affair 
thus:  '^ A. person  by  the  name  of  Scott,  said  to  be  a  Methodist 
clergyman  at  Springfield,"  etc.  The  chances  are  that  the  Palla- 
dium writer,  if  living,  now  claims  that  he  was  an  original  abolition- 
ist. There  was  a  deal  of  bickering  between  the  two  papers  over 
the  matter,  the  Spy  even  intimating  that  the  assault  was  arranged 
by  the  Palladium  editors.  Now  as  to  the  sequel.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Selectmen  told  the  Society  that  any  more  antislavery 
preaching  or  lecturing  would  result  in  their  losing  the  Hall.  The 
Selectmen  in  '35  were  Pliny  Merrick,  John  W.  Lincoln,  Benjamin 
Butman,  Lewis  Chapin,  Guy  S.  Newton,  Jonathan  Harrington, 
Simon  S.  Gates  and  Ebenezer  L.  Barnard.  It  seems  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  Pliny  Merrick  consented  to  any  such  restriction  of  free 
speech.  Though  Mr.  Burrell  told  the  Town  Fathers  that  he  didn't 
think  he  should  promise  to  preach  from  the  Bible  and  not  touch 
on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  it  is  apparent  that  he  thought  "  Dis- 
cretion the  better  part  of  valor,"  and  that  thereafter  the  walls  of 
the  Hall  were  not  vexed  with  antislavery  remarks. 


23 

Levi  Lincoln,  Jr.,  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  ex-Governor,  and 
had  been  a  midshipman  in  the  Navy.  He  died  unmarried  in 
1845,  ^t  the  early  age  of  thirty-five.  Possessing  much  of  the 
proverbial  Lincoln  ability,  he  seemed  quite  lacking  in  the  qualities 
of  perseverance  and  application,  to  say  nothing  of  discretion  and 
fairness.  Patrick  Doyle  was  a  fellow  of  immense  stature,  who 
had  charge  of  a  gang  of  hands  employed  in  building  the  Western 
railroad,  i.  e.  the  extension  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  road. 
He  had  been  told  that  the  lecturer  was  George  Thompson,  the 
English  agitator,  and  as  in  the  fairy  story,  this  giant 

"  Smelled  the  blood  of  an  Englishman." 

In  this  presence  it  may  be  in  place  to  state,  that  Doyle  got 
retributive  justice  afterward  in  full  measure,  though  perhaps  we 
do  not  believe  in  punishment  here  quite  so  much  as  certain 
friends  of  another  denomination.  In  this  particular  instance, 
however,  I  rejoice  that  full  justice  was  done  the  subject  this  side 
the  hereafter.  It  seemed  that  he  had  refused  to  pay  a  certain 
bill  for  milk  furnished  his  gang  by  one  Sam  Hilliard,  a  farmer. 
On  this  account  Hilliard  secured  the  backing  of  Bill  Ibbets,  a 
gigantic  negro,  and  went  in  to  take  his  payment  out  of  the  Irish- 
man's person.  The  battle  was  a  fierce  one,  and  so  many  finally 
were  embroiled  that  every  constable  in  town  had  to  be  summoned 
to  quell  the  disturbance.  As  to  the  end,  we  are  interested  only 
in  knowing  that  Doyle  was  laid  up  a  long  time  through  his  share 
in  the  business.  "Love  your  enemies"  certainly,  but  the  enemy 
in  hospital  is  a  safer  foe  than  when  fully  armed  and  ready  to 
attack. 

At  the  ensuing  Conference  Scott  himself,  because  he  would 
not  promise  to  abstain  from  antislavery  discussion,  lost  his  Pre- 
siding Eldership,  and  finally,  as  we  know,  was  one  of  the  early 
Wesleyans. 

Antislavery  excitement  was  increasing,  and  the  fact  that  the 
Methodists  were  fully  alive  to  its  importance,  and  also  the  fact 
that  they  could  not  discuss  the  subject  in  the  Town  Hall,  aroused 
for  them  a  deal  of  sympathy,  so  that  people  of  other  denomina- 
tions were  ready  to  assist  in  building.     In  the  autumn  of  1836 


24 

measures  were  taken  to  erect  a  structure  for  the  Society  that  it 
might  have  a  home  of  its  own.  Samuel  R.  Jackson,  who  owned 
land  in  the  Meadows,  so  called,  and  had  built  a  house  for  him- 
self there,  donated  a  site  for  the  Church.  He  was  not  himself  a 
member  though  his  wife  was.  He  was  prominently  connected 
with  the  Worcester  and  Providence  Canal,  and  had  come  to  this 
place  from  Providence,  though  originally  from  Maine.  He  after- 
wards returned  to  Rhode  Island,  and  I  have  heard  it  stated,  that 
later  by  many  years,  after  so  long  an  absence  that  everybody 
thought  him  dead,  funeral  services  were  held,  into  which,  in  the 
irony  of  fate,  it  was  his  lot  to  walk  alive  and  well,  an  interested 
beholder  of  his  own  funeral. 

The  location  was  most  unfortunate,  save  that  it  was  central. 
So  marshy  was  the  vicinity  that  one  could  get  across  much  of 
the  territory  only  by  stepping  from  one  tuft  of  grass  to  another. 
Nevertheless  the  gift  was  opportune,  for  the  Society  was  poor, 
and  we  should  never  look  gift  horses  in  the  mouth.  To  secure 
firm  foundations  piles  were  driven,  and  even  then  the  people 
failed  to  follow  Scriptural  injunction,  "To  build  upon  a  rock." 
The  region  was  entirely  new,  on  the  corner  of  what  are  now 
Exchange  and  Union  streets,  the  site  of  the  Merrifield  building, 
and  approaches  were  always  difficult.  The  Building  Committee 
were  Pitt  Holmes,  S.  R.  Jackson,  Joel  B.  Fuller,  William  Hen- 
shaw  and  William  S.  Wheat ;  and  besides  what  members  gave, 
they  were  assisted  by  people  outside.  For  instance,  Unitarian 
James  Green  and  Hon.  John  Davis  contributed,  as  did  Baptist 
Isaac  Davis,  while  Edward  Earle,  a  good  Quaker,  gave  under 
protest  because  the  edifice  had  a  steeple.  W.  T.  Merrifield  also 
was  a  contributor.  His  wife  was  a  sister  of  the  Nancy  Brigham 
who  married  Dexter  S.  King. 

In  due  time  the  house  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $4150,  and 
was  dedicated  March  8th,  1837,  the  sermon  being  preached  by 
Dr.  Joseph  Holditch,  of  Wesleyan  University.  It  is  discourag- 
ing to  look  through  contemporary  papers  for  accounts  of  the 
event.  For  two  weeks  the  Spy  had  paid  advertisements  of  the 
approaching  Dedication,  but  of  the  event  itself  and  of  the  build- 
ing dedicated  not  a  word.     It  was  a  comfortable  house,  capable 


25 

of  seating  four  hundred  people.  Its  appointments  were  good, 
and  as  a  survivor  states,  "We  were  proud  of  our  church."  In 
outside  appearance,  except  the  spire,  I  understand  it  much  re- 
sembled the  present  Laurel  street  edifice.  Ichabod  Washburn 
gave  the  lamps,  Elizabeth  Stiles  the  cover  for  the  communion 
table,  while  Miss  Charlotte  Eaton  (afterwards  Mrs.  Walker)  with 
Mrs.  William  Lucas,  S.  R.  Jackson  providing  horse  and  carriage, 
rode  many  miles  through  the  neighboring  towns  to  secure  means 
to  pay  for  some  of  the  furnishings.  Of  all  of  these,  only  the  com- 
munion table  is  now  in  existence,  and  that  belongs  to  Grace 
Church,  rescued  from  a  dirty  place  in  the  basement  of  the  old 
Park  street  Church  (now  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholics) 
by  Charles  H.  Carpenter,  a  most  active  and  efficient  Steward  of 
Grace.  This  table  was  about  all  that  was  saved  from  the  fire 
which  destroyed  the  church  edifice  in  1844. 

Some  idea  of  the  disagreeableness  of  the  situation  may  be 
gained  from  Father  Taylor's  remark  when  he  first  visited  the  place  : 
"  Why  didn't  you  put  your  church  in  a  cow  yard  and  be  done 
with  it."  For  a  Baptist  church  its  watery  surroundings  might  have 
been  quite  apropos ;  but  for  a  denomination  that  yielded  only 
quasi  assent  to  the  doctrine  of  immersion,  there  was  much  that 
seemed  out  of  place.  "To  get  to  it,"  says  one  sister,  "we  had  to 
take  the  Canal  tow-path,  dodge  under  railroad  bridges,  or  trip  along 
on  boards  which  hardly  ever  answered  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  laid  down."  However  the  Church  prospered,  and  even  while 
building,  the  Society  maintained  a  successful  revival,  resulting  in 
the  accession  to  the  number  of  believers  of  many  earnest 
Christians.  Following  the  Dedication  came  a  series  of  meetings, 
at  which  Abel  Stevens,  the  celebrated  Historian  of  Methodism, 
preached  several  times,  his  first  sermon  having  been  given  on  the 
evening  of  Dedication  day.  Sixty  probationers  came  in  after 
these  meetings. 

In  1837  came  James  Porter,  a  name  well  known  in  Methodism. 
With  him  came  business  depression,  and  the  consequent  moving 
away  of  many  of  the  members.  But  careful,  prayerful  labor  suc- 
ceeded in  making  good  the  losses.  Beginning  a  series  of  meetings 
the  town  became  stirred  to  a  fever  heat.     Though  assisted  by 


26 

Revs.  William  and  Richard  Livesey,  Jotham  Horton,  and  William 
H.  Richards,  his  own  work  was  immense.  For  five  months  the 
work  went  on.  I  am  not  sure  but  this  was  the  time  when  to  the 
question,  "  How  much  longer  are  you  Methodists  going  to  run 
your  meetings ?"  came  the  reply,  "Till  the  town  is  converted." 
Though  1 75  probationers  were  received  into  the  M.  E.  Church, 
it  was  only  a  small  part  of  the  good  that  was  done,  for  many 
awakened  here  connected  themselves  with  other  churches. 
Though  Rodney  A.  Miller  of  the  Old  South  advised  his  people 
not  to  attend,  he  and  his  had  no  objection  to  receiving  those 
converted  there.  At  an  examination  of  those  desiring  to  enter  a 
Congregational  church,  the  answer  became  so  general  to  the 
question,  Where  and  when  were  you  awakened  ?  "  Down  in  the 
Meadows  at  the  Methodist  meetings,"  that  one  of  the  Deacons, 
alarmed  lest  the  reputation  of  the  shouters  should  be  too  great, 
slyly  nudged  the  next  relay,  saying,  "You  needn't  tell  just  where 
you  made  your  start."  In  these  meetings  S.  R.  Jackson,  the 
Church's  benefactor,  A.  F.  Henshaw,  and  Frederick  Eaton  were 
converted.  The  latter  was  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Benjamin  Walker, 
and  was  for  twenty  years  a  class  leader. 

Mr.  Porter's  one  year's  pastorate  was  followed  by  that  of  the 
Rev.  Jotham  Horton,  whose  administrations  were  successful,  and 
the  Church  prosperous.  He  afterwards  joined  the  Wesleyans. 
Up  to  this  time  the  Church  property  had  been  held  in  an  anom- 
alous manner ;  but  on  the  6th  of  May,  '39,  it  was  legally  trans- 
ferred to  the  following  Trustees  :  Pitt  Holmes,  Leonard  Flagg, 
William  Henshaw,  Thomas  H.  Butterfield,  Wilkes  Roper,  Samuel 
D.  Barker,  Eli  Goulding,  thus  coming  into  line  with  Methodist 
usage.  It  is  a  sorry  reflection,  that  only  two  names  in  the  above 
list  are  those  of  men  who  preserved  their  Methodism  unclouded 
to  the  end.  Flagg  went  into  Adventism,  so  deeply  that  he  died 
insane.  Eli  Goulding  became  a  Spiritualist,  and  so  far  fell  away 
from  his  old  associates  as  afterwards  to  stigmatize  them  as  a  set 
of  horse  jockies  and  thieves.  "  .\h  well,"  said  the  good  lady  to 
whom  he  said  this,  "were  they  such  when  you  belonged?  and 
they  are  as  good  now  as  then."  Butterfield,  the  first  Secretary  of 
the  Board,  went  to  the  Universalists,  while  S.  D.  Barker  went  to 


27 

the  Union  (Congregational)  Church,  and  finally  to  the  Adventists. 
Here  is  his  request  for  dismissal,  June  17th,  '39  : 

"S.  D.  Barker,  being  a  member  of  this  Church  and  Society,  and 
notwithstanding  his  full  fellowship  with  the  doctrine  and  members 
of  the  Church,  yet  feeling  that  his  Domestic  happiness  would  be 
augmented  by  a  disconnection  with  them,  requests  that  this 
Board  favor  him  with  a  Dismissal  and  a  Recommendation  if 
Proper  to  Br.  Smalley's  Church." 

As  he  afterwards  became  an  Adventist,  one  naturally  wonders 
how  his  "Domestic  happiness"  fared  then.  In  this  history,  we 
have  often  recurring  to  us  the  name  Reuben,  if  not  occasionally 
Ichabod.  At  any  rate  there  are  many  illustrations  of  seed  falling 
where  was  not  much  deepness  of  earth,  and  forthwith  springing  up, 
under  the  noontide  rays  of  temptation  it  withered  away. 

After  one  year's  stay  Horton  was  succeeded  by  Moses  L. 
Scudder,  only  a  sliort  time  out  of  college.  He  remained  two 
years,  noted  for  zeal  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  for  his  general 
interest  in  public  affairs.  He  left  a  pleasant  memory  in  the  town. 
Perhaps  not  so  spiritual  as  some  himself,  he  nevertheless  admin- 
istered, on  one  occasion,  a  merited  rebuke  to  certain  people  con- 
spicuous for  their  noise  in  meeting.  Sometimes  under  the  spur 
of  shoulder  tapping  and  loud  "Amens,"  some  of  the  brethren 
would  get  so  vociferous  that  thinking,  saying  nothing  about 
speaking,  was  out  of  the  question.  So  the  preacher  told  them 
one  night  what  he  thought,  and  the  lesson  was  efficacious,  "  There 
is,"  said  he,  "a  certain  clique  here  that  much  prefers  shouting 
for  the  king  in  the  camp  to  fighting  for  him  in  the  field." 

During  the  winter  of  '39-'40,  the  Church  built  a  Vestry  on 
Exchange  street,  which  subsequently  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Zion's  African  Methodist  Church,  and  was  burned  in  '54.  On 
January  5  th,  1841,  a  fire  damaged  the  Church  somewhat.  In 
1 84 1,  June  30th,  the  first  session  of  the  New  England  Confer- 
ence in  Worcester  was  begun.  Bishop  Hedding  presiding ;  and 
Miner  Raymond  was  appointed  to  Worcester,  where  he  remained 
two  years.  He  too  had  unqualified  success,  though  his  pastorate 
came  in  the  very  height  of  the  Millerite  excitement,  it  taking 
from  the  Church  some  of  its  brightest  examples.     There  were 


28 

characters  in  those  days — people  who  were  not  afraid  to  speak 
their  minds.  Eli  Goulding's  sister  Harriet  had  been  a  Baptist, 
yet  she  would  score  her  old  friends  unstintedly,  saying  that  if  she 
had  stayed  with  them  she  would  have  been  in  hell  long  before. 
Looseness  of  tongue  seemed  a  family  failing.  How  she  would 
lecture  everybody  when  the  singing  lagged.  "  Such  singing  on, 
singing  on,"  she  would  say,  "there's  no  spirituality  in  it."  In 
spite  of  her  ways  she  was  a  great  help  to  the  Church  ;  but  she  too 
was  smitten  with  Adventism,  and  spent  her  last  days  surrounded 
with  pictures  of  creatures  that,  if  possible,  would  have  gladdened 
the  soul  of  Barnum. 

Our  Church  was  early  a  refuge  for  the  colored  people,  many  of 
whom  became  exemplary  members.  There  was  Peter  Waters, 
from  Gov.  John  Davis's  family,  who  in  praying  and  singing  was  a 
great  help  to  George  Pickering ;  but  the  memory  of  David  Rob- 
erts lingers  longest  in  the  memories  of  oldtime  Worcester  Metho- 
dists. When  the  revival  fervor  was  on,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Swaim,  of  the 
First  Baptist,  though  he  could  "  see  no  signs,"  fearing  that  his  peo- 
ple would  grow  cold,  appointed  several  meetings,  if  possible  to  stir 
matters  up.  This  pastor  was  the  man  who  once  forbade  a  woman 
speaking  in  his  church ;  but  the  meetings  were  held,  and  they 
were  dead  enough.  One  night  Roberts  happened  in.  After  a 
"poor  dying  rate"  for  some  time,  Mr.  Swaim  remarked  again  that 
he  couldn't  see  any  signs.  Whereupon  the  colored  brother  rose 
to  his  feet,  and  lectured  the  leader  thus  :  "  De  brudder  is  all 
wrong.  He  is  looking  for  signs  abroad  when  he  should  look  for 
dam  at  home.  De  revival  must  begin,  fust  ob  all,  in  dis  bery 
house,  in  dese  bery  bredren,  an'  above  all  in  de  bery  heart  ob  de 
minister  I"  It  is  consoling  to  reflect  that  this  church  did  have  a 
genuine  revival  afterward. 

In  the  days  of  '43,  the-  Adventist  excitement  ran  rampant, 
and  on  account  of  his  eloquence  and  power  these  people  were 
very  anxious  to  secure  David  Roberts.  One  evening,  he  was  present, 
and  after  hearing  much  about  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  white  robes  in  which  the  elect  were  to  arise,  thus  escaping 
"the  cold,  dark  grave,"  he  arose,  and  his  first  remarks  pleased 
his  hearers  mightily,  they  thinking  that  he  had  cast  his  lot  with 


29 

them  sure,  for  said  he,  "  I  hab  all  along  beliebed  in  de  comin'  ob 
Christ.  He  come  a  long  time  ago  an'  filled  my  soul.  I  got  him 
dar  now,  bless  de  Lord  !  Oh  yes,  I  beliebe  in  his  comin'.  An' 
den  as  to  de  cold,  dark  grave,  'bout  which  you's  so  bery  'fraid, 
'Since  Jesus  hab  lain  dar  I  dread  not  its  gloom'."  It  was  obvious 
that  Roberts'  Adventism  was  not  that  of  his  hearers.  He  was 
sincere. 

Robert  Wilson  was  a  character.  Born  a  slave,  he  was  smart 
enough  to  escape  from  bondage.  Hidden  in  a  crockery  crate, 
he  made  his  departure  from  Dixie's  Land  ;  but  so  near  cap- 
ture that,  at  one  time,  in  searching  for  him,  the  very  crate  in 
which  he  was  lying  was  rolled  over.  He  was  for  many  years  a 
packer  for  Firth  &  Co.,  crockery  dealers.  At  this  date  no  one  of 
the  early  worthies  is  more  often  quoted  than  this  son  of  Africa 
who,  in  spite  of  color,  was  the  soul  of  eloquence,  and  who  had 
the  love  of  God  deep  down  in  his  heart.  There  are  many  who 
can  recall  his  manifestations  when  the  Spirit  moved  him.  Be- 
ginning to  jump,  he  would  go  higher  and  higher,  till  he  could 
clear  the  settee  at  every  leap.  Then  swinging  his  red  bandanna, 
he  would  describe  the  New  Jerusalem  with  its  golden  streets  and 
pearly  gates,  saying,  "  Den  dis  ol'  nigger  '11  wear  his  silber  slippers 
an'  he'll  see  de  Lord,  an'  dar'U  be  no  mo'  sorrow,  but  light  an' 
happiness  for  eber  mo'.  "  However  grotesque  this  may  seem  as 
told,  it  was  not  so  to  those  who  listened,  for  however  restless 
the  young  people  might  be  before  Wilson  began,  he  always  had 
their  undivided  attention.  There  was  not  a  scoffer  among  them 
who  did  not  believe  unqualifiedly  in  the  black  man's  sincerity. 
His  employer  has  been  known  to  steal  carefully  up  the  stairs 
to  listen  to  his  servant's  voice  in  prayer,  and  when  he  lay  on 
his  bed  of  anguish  it  was  for  Wilson  he  sent,  that  the  supplica- 
tions of  this  untutored  child  of  Nature  and  of  God  might  comfort 
him.  The  mutations  of  trade  took  Wilson  to  Springfield,  Mass., 
where  he  died  several  years  since,  happy  and  glorious  to  the  last. 

It  were  possible  to  record,  here,  a  long  list  of  names  of  those 
who  fell  away  from  the  Church  on  accouut  of  the  new  ism  of 
Miller,  but  to  what  end  ?  The  most  of  those  who  ran  after  new 
lights  have  long  since  tested  the  truth  or  falsity  of  their  attitudes. 


30 

I  must,  however,  name  Solomon  Parsons,  for  among  odd  char- 
acters he  is  confessedly  king.  As  some  people  have  all  the 
diseases  that  appear,  so  his  mind  readily  absorbed  every  ism  that 
came  his  way.  One  notion  was  that  he  should  eat  no  meat,  nor 
animal  food  of  any  kind,  nor  wear  woolen  clothes  nor  leather 
shoes  or  boots.  So  for  long  years  he  lived  on  nuts  and  fruit,  and 
clothed  himself  in  cotton  and  India  rubber.  Then  taking  the 
Millerite  craze  in  its  very  worst  phase,  he  deeded  a  part  of  his 
farm  to  the  Almighty,  and  had  the  document  deeply  cut  in  granite 
rock  on  a  portion  of  Rattlesnake  Hill,  it  being  understood  that 
this  would  be  one  of  the  ascension  places.  Near  by  he  con- 
structed the  oddest  shaped  edifice  in  the  county,  and  dubbed  it 
"Solomon's  Temple,"  and  in  it  anyone  might  lecture  who  would 
take  the  trouble  to  climb  the  hill.  Some  rascally  boys,  two  or 
three  years  ago,  burned  all  there  was  combustible  about  it.  So 
then  this  old  man,  whose  names,  both  sir  and  christian,  comprise 
so  much  of  wisdom  and  goodness  lingers.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  he  is  good,  but  as  to  wisdom — who  knows  ? 

After  Raymond  came  Charles  K.  True,  this  in  1843.  A  native 
of  New  England  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  he  had  much  to 
recommend  him  to  this  conservative  community.  Early  in  his 
pastorate  the  question  of  moving  the  Church  to  a  more  favorable 
locality  was  earnestly  mooted,  and  on  the  5th  of  January,  1844, 
the  Quarterly  Conference  voted  to  remove  the  building  to  some 
place  near  the  Common  if  possible.  Before,  however,  this  plan 
could  be  carried  out,  fire  saved  the  people  the  trouble  of  moving, 
for  on  Monday  night,  February  19th,  '44,  at  about  twenty  minutes 
past  ten,  flames  were  discovered  on  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
house  where  the  stove  was  situated.  Built  of  wood,  it  was  speedily 
wrapped  in  fire,  and  all  efforts  to  save  it  were  unavailing.  The 
spire  soon  fell,  bearing  down  the  vane  and  ball  that  William  Lucas 
had  made.  "  I  well  remember,"  says  a  man  who  looked  on,  "  seeing 
Eli  Goulding  carrying  ice  and  snow  to  throw  on  the  granite  steps, 
thus  preventing  their  cracking  through  excessive  heat."  This  was 
before  Eli  had  spiritually  wandered  away.  The  clock  and  some 
furniture,  according  to  the  Spy,  were  saved,  but  of  the  clock  I  can 
find  no  trace,  and  of  the  furniture  I  know  only  of  the  table  before 


31 

named.  There  is  a  tradition  that  some  chairs,  etc.,  were  saved, 
but  where  they  are  the  antiquarian  knoweth  not. 

"  It  is  an  ill  wind  that  blows  no  one  any  good."  The  Church 
was  insured  for  ^3000,  and  very  few  were  satisfied  with  its  loca- 
tion. One  good  survivor  of  those  days  said  to  me  recently,  "  I 
never  enjoyed  a  fire  so  much  in  my  life  ! "  Now  was  the  time  to 
build  again,  and  to  avoid  the  folly  of  the  first  attempt.  The  old 
building  was  in  ashes,  but  bad  though  its  situation  was,  it  had  many 
hallowed  memories.  Whatever  the  difficulty  in  reaching,  it  was 
a  good  anchoring  place  when  inside.  More  pretentious  houses 
could  not  tell  more  of  God's  saving  power.  One  thing  was  cer- 
tain, the  sacred  edifice  could  never  be  transformed  into  a  shop, 
store,  hotel  or  livery-stable,  the  fate  of  so  many  Protestant  struc- 
tures once  solemnly  dedicated  to  God. 

To  the  Town  Hall  the  Society  again  resorted,  and  there  where 
they  began  their  worship,  where  Pickering,  Scott,  Burrell  and  others 
had  preached  to  them,  while  the  embers  of  their  seven  years  old 
church  are  yet  warm,  for  the  present  we  leave  our  Worcester 
Methodists. 


AA      000  09183 


